November 5, 2003	Wednesday	Ramazan 9, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Nov 4: The Government on Tuesday cut telephone line rent by Rs100, reduced installation charges for new connections and doubled the duration of local call during off-peak hours to provide relief to common man.

The new rates would be applicable from Dec 1, 2003, after the formal approval by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) Board, to be met later this month.

This was announced by Minister for Telecom and Information Technology Awais Leghari at a press conference here.

The minister said that the PTCL would suffer a revenue loss of up to Rs6.5 billion as a result of these decisions but it showed the government commitment to provide “maximum relief” to the people.

Last week, the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited had also announced a cut in rates for international (ISD) and domestic (NWD) calls.

As a result of the decision, the line rent has been reduced by 33 per cent, bringing it to Rs200 a month. It will reduce the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited revenues by Rs5.5 billion.

Under the new rates, the PTCL’s share in the line rent would be Rs174, while the remaining Rs26 would go to the government under the head of General Sales Tax (GST).

The new connection charges for the urban areas have been reduced from Rs1850 to Rs1350 for the current financial year ending June 30, 2004.

However, the minister said, to encourage telephone usage in rural areas, where teledensity figure was as low as one to two per cent, the government had decided to reduce the new connection charges to Rs500.

Mr Leghari asserted that Pakistan was already offering the lowest local call rates, when compared to major countries in the region.

However, he said, as a further relief to the people, the government had decided to double the duration from existing five minutes to 10 minutes for a local call that costs Rs2.31 to a consumer, during the off-peak hours, from 10pm to 7am.

“The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited takes the new decisions as a challenge and would make every effort to sustain and further improve its financial health,” the minister pledged.

The minister said that during a recent briefing on telecommunication, President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had ordered provision of maximum relief to the people by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, which earned Rs23 billion profit last year.

Mr Leghari also indicated that the government would announce two to three new licences in the mobile phone sector during the next few days to encourage competition and ensure maximum benefits to the people.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) would invite Expression of Interest (EOI) from the interested companies and potential investors through advertisements.

Mr Leghari said that his ministry was also working on a policy for the mobile sector and it was at an advance stage. He said a policy in this vital telecom sector was must to attract long-term investment.

He said the government would consult all stakeholders and the potential investors on the proposed policy in the mobile phone sector.—APP